T-Mobile's test drive lets you use a new iPhone 5S for a week for free. However, there is $700+ hold put on your credit card until you return the device.

T-Mobile's test drive lets you use a new iPhone 5S for a week for free. However, there is $700+ hold put on your credit card until you return the device.

Photo: Chronicle screenshot

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces the T-Mobile test drive program Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces the T-Mobile test drive program Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

Photo: Associated Press

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces the T-Mobile test drive program Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces the T-Mobile test drive program Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

Photo: Associated Press

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces the T-Mobile test drive program Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces the T-Mobile test drive program Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

Photo: Associated Press

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces that some music streaming services won't count against data limits during an event Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces that some music streaming services won't count against data limits during an event Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

Photo: Associated Press

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces that some music streaming services won't count against data limits during an event Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces that some music streaming services won't count against data limits during an event Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

Photo: Associated Press

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces the T-Mobile test drive program Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere announces the T-Mobile test drive program Wednesday, June 18, 2014, at an event in Seattle.

Photo: Associated Press

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T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert talks about his company's new program that offers a free seven-day test drive of an Apple iPhone 5S at T-Mobile's Uncarrier 5.0 event, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, in Seattle. less

T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert talks about his company's new program that offers a free seven-day test drive of an Apple iPhone 5S at T-Mobile's Uncarrier 5.0 event, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, in ... more

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My T-Mobile Test Drive iPhone 5S - a 64-GB model - came in very un-Apple-like packaging. I suspected it might be a refurbished unit, but a T-Mobile spokesperson didn't respond when I asked.

My T-Mobile Test Drive iPhone 5S - a 64-GB model - came in very un-Apple-like packaging. I suspected it might be a refurbished unit, but a T-Mobile spokesperson didn't respond when I asked.

Photo: Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle

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T-Mobile’s Test Drive doesn’t help the carrier’s case [Updated]

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Last month, T-Mobile began offering potential new customers a free “test drive”, loaning out an iPhone 5S for a week’s trial. The idea, as CEO John Legere explained at a June 18 event, is to dispel misconceptions about the No. 4 carrier’s data network.

That’s largely because T-Mobile was the last to the LTE data party, launching its Long Term Evolution network in early 2013. The carrier has spent the past year building it out in most U.S. cities and larger towns. Although it had a pretty robust HSPA+ data network before that, most people don’t think of that carrier when it comes to speed and availability of fast data. The T-Mobile Test Drive program is a shot at changing that.

There’s one problem, though. If, indeed, T-Mobile’s network really isn’t that reliably fast or ubiquitous, giving folks a free phone for a week will only reinforce the, um, “misconceptions”. And that’s pretty much what happened to me when I took Legere’s challenge.

I signed up for the T-Mobile Test Drive program as soon as it was available. It was not a trouble-free process, as the Test Drive’s website wouldn’t accept my credit card, saying it had already been used to sign up for a phone. It had not.

I was able to complete the signup via phone, but the polite and enthusiastic rep took wrote down my address incorrectly. Another phone call to customer service on delivery day got the error fixed, and a 64-gigabyte, space-gray iPhone 5S showed up at my door on Wednesday, June 25.

I turned on the device, walked through the iPhone setup process and began trying to put T-Mobile’s network though its paces in my apartment. But instead of the LTE network, or even T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, I found myself with just one bar’s worth of signal and falling back to the dreaded, 2G EDGE network. I could barely get a download test to complete using the Speetest.net app. I tried making a call to my lovely wife, and it wouldn’t go through.

EDGE is very slow, and when T-Mobile is available in rural areas, that’s usually the data network you’re stuck with. Now, I don’t live in the boonies – I live a couple of miles from downtown Houston in Montrose. It’s possible my apartment building is very well insulated, because just a couple of blocks down the street, in the parking lot of the Kroger on West Gray, I got jaw-dropping LTE speeds and five bars.

At work, I had a similar issue. Although I had four bars and a 4G icon on the phone – what you see with an HSPA+ connection – I couldn’t get any websites to load or apps to pull in data. Stepping outside on the newsroom balcony of the Houston Chronicle building helped, but the connection was still pokey. Earlier that morning, at an intersection a block away, I got 28 megabits down and a strong LTE signal. The next day, I was able to get a data connection at my desk, but it remained sluggish.

And that’s pretty much the way it was all week. I averaged between 9-10 Mbps downloads and 3-8 Mbps uploads around Houston, with occasional bursts of impressive speeds similar to that in the Kroger parking lot. About half the time, I was connected to HSPA+ instead of LTE, particularly when I was inside buildings. Sometimes I was ecstatic at what I was seeing; other times, just frustrated.

In contrast, with my AT&T iPhone 5, I regularly get between 20-40 Mbps down and 10-12 Mbps up on a regular basis, with occasionally faster speeds. Here’s a test I did just this morning on my iPhone 5 at home:

At this point, T-Mobile network is just too spotty and inconsistent to compete with AT&T’s. I’d considered taking the iPhone 5S to the hinterlands outside Houston, but network coverage was spotty enough in town to make me dismiss the notion of switching to T-Mobile. Why bother heading outside the Houston coverage area?

When I returned the phone on Tuesday to a nearby T-Mobile store, I told the clerk that I just wasn’t happy with the quality of T-Mobile’s data service. I asked him what others who’d returned their Test Drive phones had told him, and he said, “You’re our first.”

I realize that I’m just one person, and that someone who frequents different locations in Houston may get different results. I’d like to hear from others who’ve tried the Test Drive. Was your experience better, worse, or about the same as mine? Let us know in the comments.